As an introduction to the UX Elevate course, we were asked to identify a problem in society we wanted to work towards solving. I knew it was something I would be immersing myself in for the next 10 weeks, so it was important for me to choose something I felt I would enjoy, and something I thought was almost universally experienced so I could quickly and easily validate with as many people as possible in the time frame given.
PROBLEM / HYPOTHESIS:
I decided to choose something related to travel, because who doesn’t like the idea of taking a break and flying somewhere new? Though as enjoyable as traveling can (and should) be, getting through a long-haul flight can be a real chore. I realised in-flight entertainment screens are functional, but could be enhanced to better service the user.
Being an extroverted female millennial, the unsurprising hypothesis was that people wanted more social interaction in flights; that being stuck in one spot for a long period of time removed the social interaction that people craved, and if we could only interact with others on the flight the experience would be more positive overall.
RESEARCH / INSIGHTS:
To validate or pivot my direction, I conducted 10x F2F interviews. I spoke to 5x people who had recently been on a long-haul flight, and 5x people who had plans to fly soon.
I captured information on the best and worst parts of their flying experience, the role of in-flight entertainment screens on their journey as well as general thoughts on how they felt their long-haul flight experience could be improved generally.
I conducted the interviews with people I knew to start off with, then decided to make my way to Sydney International Airport, where I thought there would be an abundance of soon-to-be-travelers willing to talk to me. But as it turns out, despite doing nothing but killing time at a food court, people are generally hesitant to give their time to strangers carrying clipboards.
I grit my teeth through 4x in-Airport interviews before deciding rushing through them wasn’t garnering the quality of responses I was looking for. Thankfully the responses I did receive were in-line with what I had already learned from interviewing others.
I also conducted an online survey to quantify some things people had mentioned in the interviews, and measure interest in certain features I was contemplating early on. A total of n=81 people had completed the survey within the week, and results were instrumental in the direction of my project.
The one key nugget of insight from all the research conducted was that people didn’t want social interaction with others. In fact, they perceived long-haul flights to be valuable “me-time” for them to unwind and catch up on movies/reading. Boredom and loneliness weren’t commonly experienced on flights, but what was prolific among almost all those surveyed and interviewed was that the struggle to sleep and the physical discomfort of sitting for so long were the most negative factors of their experience.
“Long-haul flights are the necessary evil of traveling overseas”
AFFINITY MAPPING / SYNTHESIS:
Armed with this new perspective, I was able to make sense of the data coming through.
Key themes found through affinity mapping:
The number one goal/want of passengers is to disembark from the aircraft. Long haul flights are seen as the “necessary evil” of traveling.
Passengers want to sleep on their flight (either through being tired or wanting to pass time), but they are unable to find a position to get comfortable. This is the number 1 inconvenience experienced on LHF.
In-flight entertainment screens are a major part of the flight experience, being interacted with for 82% of total flight time on avg. They are successfully entertaining passengers and alleviating boredom. However, they currently do nothing for alleviating the number 1 inconvenience (lack of comfort and sleep).
Many passengers are experiencing “bad timing” with the food and beverage trolleys, and find it arrives at a time when they either need to use the restroom or are in the middle of sleeping.
Themes emerging surfaced physical discomfort and lack of sleep were actually much more universally experienced than boredom.
USER EMPATHY / JOURNEYS:
4x proto-personas were created, inspired by the insights from the research.
Meet Alannah, David, Eva and Josh…
These personas were all given user journeys to illustrate a typical experience for them on long-haul flights.
Whilst their experiences and motivations vary, they all benefit from the same range of solutions. Customer journey mapping revealed that all users needed an aid for them to sleep and to have visibility on when the optimal time to sleep is.
I came up with some solutions to address the physical discomfort and inability to sleep, but wasn’t sure how users would feel about them. I decided to conduct a quick card sort around my office to find out which solutions people would be willing to try, and in what order they would try them. This task would help me prioritise which solutions should be built first as part of the MVP.
Thankfully, the card sort revealed that all solutions proposed were of interest to users, though the counting sheep video was considered a last resort for most…
PROTOTYPING / DESIGN:
The prototyping and design element of the course were what I was particularly nervous for. I had no experience using any design or prototyping tools and was worried my capabilities would leave me at a deficit, especially considering there was only limited time to learn to use them.
I learnt that you could import many image file types into InVision. You aren’t restricted to just a Sketch or Axure file - which made me realise I could design my solution using almost anything. So I went with something I could use quickly and confidently - the bread and butter of what I do day-to-day: Microsoft PowerPoint aka Old Faithful.
Here are some examples of screens I created for my prototype, and the wireframes they were based off.
Because the interface I was working on already had a well-established and recognised information architecture, it was quite straight forward to build and add on to.
USABILITY TESTING:
We had a whole class dedicated to running usability testing among friends of fellow Academy Xi students. We were instructed to bring someone in for the night who would act as a participant/user - the class was fun, eye-opening, nerve-racking, but most of all rewarding. It was great to have your designs seen from a fresh perspective and either validated or improved.
I built a make-shift back rest from spare plywood and attached it to the back of a chair to simulate a similar experience to sitting in a plane.
ITERATION:
User-testing went fairly smoothly, and only a couple of minor roadblocks were identified in the prototype:
Unclear that timezone used in timeline is the time in destination
Sleep tactics and stretches should be in different menus
Video demonstrations are preferred, over static images with text instructions
In retrospect…
Have an enticing incentive in place when cold-interviewing people. People are skeptical of anyone approaching them unexpectedly.
Speaking predominantly to people in my network meant a certain bias in the sample. If resource allowed, I would have liked to speak to a more varied group of people from all walks of life and demographics.
Find time and budget to at least learn the basics of design tools
There was no chance to prove or disprove the effectiveness of sleep tactics, next time recruit users to try methods at home before bed\
UXE24 Sydney 2018